Kitchen Adventures: Kouign Amann

Lord knows I love butter (mon péché mignon, as the French call it, along with extra dry gin martinis and chocolate in the middle of the night). We all know the French REALLY love butter. So when my coworker (let's call him A for now) made me this bready, wonderful, buttery-rich dessert, I just KNEW I had to try and make it myself. Hailing from Douarnenez, in the Finistère region of France, this Breton bread-cake is horrible for your heart and waistline but so, so good in your mouth.

The premise is simple - it's a pastry made of basic bread dough laminated (layered) with oodles and oodles of butter. The technique, however, requires practice and very very cold butter (frozen if possible), so that the layers come out nice and even. Mais, ne vous découragez pas! Practice makes perfect.

Here's A's version:

For the Dough (also makes a nice basic bread or pizza dough all by itself)
800g all-purpose flour
25g sea salt
30g butter, softened
15g fresh yeast
400mL water

1. Prep the yeast. You can take a little bit of tepid-warm (NOT hot) water and a teaspoon of sugar, and mash the fresh yeast gently with a fork in a bowl. Set aside. In a few minutes, this should look frothy and smell a bit like beer.
2. Combine the salt, flour and butter. Incorporate the water, little by little, and add the yeast (do not add yeast and salt at the same time - the yeast will die), kneading into a firm dough.
3. Knead into a ball in the bowl; cut a little "X" on top, cover with saran wrap and leave to double in volume in a warm (but not overly hot) place, about 30-60 minutes.

For the Filling

550g butter, unsalted

400g brown sugar

STOP! BEFORE YOU START, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A VERY VERY COLD, AND I MEAN COLD, WORK SURFACE (I USED A FROZEN GRANITE CHEESE SERVING STONE). IT ALSO HELPS TO FREEZE THE BUTTER.

1. Roll out the dough about 0.5" (1cm) thick.
2. Cut the butter into slices, and assemble to make a butter "sheet" to fit about half the surface area of the dough from the previous step. Dust with sugar, then fold the dough over. Roll out the dough again.
3. Repeat the process until you have used up all the butter and the sugar. At this point, your dough should look layered, with butter and sugar in between the layers.
4. You can cut a square about 6"x6" (15cm x 15cm) and put in a cake pan (fold in the edges to form a circle), or cut strips, roll them up and put them in a muffin pan as I did.
5. Let the dough rest for about half an hour before baking at 180 degrees Celsius (~350 Fahrenheit), until golden brown. Flip over so the other side can caramelize as well; continue baking until a golden brown color is reached (baking times will vary - a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean).

Et voilà, Kouign Amann. It's seriously so so good. Mine turned out a bit funny looking as the butter got too hot and didn't layer perfectly, but it was delicious nonetheless. Try it with a cup of coffee... You'll be convinced.

As I mentioned before, you can use the basic dough to make bread too, see Exhibit A in all its glory:

Super easy, and quick enough to include as a side to a weekday dinner! Just remember to add a small container of water in the oven for moisture when baking, so you don't get overly crispy bread.

Coconut-Vanilla Cupcakes with Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting

so… the other day, i had a sudden craving, no, NEED, to eat something sweet, creamy and soft… so i decided to make these delicious, moist cupcakes.

the secret ingredient in the cupcakes is the coconut milk, which has a higher fat content than regular milk, which gives the cupcakes a decadently rich texture. combined with the slightly tangy, creamy frosting, and the texture of the coconut flakes, this is heaven in little, deliciously edible mounds!

for an even more decadent treat, you could try filling the cupcakes with the frosting, or toasting the coconut topping.

in the summer months, you should keep these refrigerated, because the frosting does have a tendency to be a bit runny in hot weather.

recipe makes 18 to 36 cupcakes, depending on size of mold.

ingredients for base cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour*
• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder* 
• 1/2 tsp salt* (* indicates that these ingredients should be mixed and sifted twice) 
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 
• 1 1/3 cups dark brown sugar, packed 
• 3 large eggs at room temperature 
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped (if unavailable
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract 
• 1 cup pure coconut milk, at room temperature (available in the asian section of the grocery store) 
• 1 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut flakes 
• 1 cup sweetened dessicated coconut flakes

ingredients for frosting:

• 4 cups powdered sugar 
• 2x 8 oz packets of cream cheese, softened to room temperature 
• 1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup) 
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped (or 1 tbsp vanilla extract) 
• 2 tbsp coconut extract

decoration/topping:

• sweetened dessicated coconut, spread out on a platter cupcakes (can be done a day before and set aside)

instructions:

1. preheat oven to 350F, with a rack positioned in the middle (or middle-top if you have 4 levels in your oven) of the oven. 
2. line cupcake molds with paper cupcake liners. 
3. in a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter with a whisk until creamy & slightly fluffy (the old fashioned way - if you’re pressed for time, you can use a beater). 
4. add the sugar in 1/3 cup increments, while beating the butter, making sure that all the sugar gets incorporated. 
5. add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating thoroughly. 
6. add the coconut milk vanilla bean to the butter-sugar-egg mixture, incorporating thoroughly. 
7. now take 1/3 of the dry mixture (sifted flour, baking powder & salt) and beat it into the wet ingredients. r
8. epeat two more times, until all the dry ingredients are now incorporated. 
9. add the dessicated coconut. 
10. ladle the batter into the lined cupcake molds, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 full (or the mixture will overflow and you’ll have ugly cupcakes). 
11. bake at 350F, for 18-25 minutes, until edges are golden brown & a toothpick/chopstick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached to it. 
12. frosting - while the cupcakes are baking, prepare the following: beat the butter until creamy. 
13. add cream cheese, half a package at a time, until it forms a creamy mixture. 
14. add the sugar in four parts, incorporating thoroughly. add the coconut & vanilla extracts (or coconut extract & vanilla bean). 
15. place in a piping bag and set aside in the refrigerator until the cupcakes are ready. 
16. when cupcakes are completely cool, pipe frosting (using a plain, small-to-medium piping end) onto the cupcakes in a swirl. 
17. roll cupcakes gently in sweetened dessicated coconut.

Nutella Drizzled Cheesecake

I have a love for Nutella. Okay, “love” might not be the right word. I’m obsessed with Nutella.

Here’s how to make Nutella Drizzled Cheesecake:
(Note: this recipe only makes 2 muffin sized cheesecakes. I’ve always wondered why every recipe I’ve read makes like, some ridiculous number like – 24 muffin sized cheesecakes. Am I really going to eat 24 cheesecakes? I don’t think so.)

INGREDIENTS

For the Cheesecake Crust:4 Graham Cracker (Break ‘em into crumbs)
2 tablespoons of Butter
1/4 teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sugar

For the Cheesecake:
8 ounces of cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
1 large egg
26.5ml heavy cream

For the topping:
1 Ziplock bag
Nutella

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 muffin cups wit paper liners. Instead of using a regular muffin pan, I used a silicone muffin pan so i could push the Cheesecake out later from the bottom without it screwing up.

Mix together all the ingredients for the cheesecake crust, and line the muffin cup bottom with it. Your ingredients should look something like wet sand. If it doesn’t, you forgot something – probably the butter. Bake for 5 minutes, and let it cool.

Reduce oven to 300 Degrees F.

Beat the cream cheese until it’s smooth – I have an electric mixer, but you can easily do it with a spoon. Mix in all the rest of cheesecake filling ingredients one at a time. Make sure everything is well incorporated, and spoon the mixture into the muffin pan on top of the cheesecake crust. Shove it into the oven for 20-25minutes. Let it cool, and then transfer it to the fridge. The best cheesecakes are the ones that are left overnight, but if you’re impatient like me, 4 hours is just as good.

For the topping, if you have one of those cone-shaped things that squeeze out icing, then that’s fantastic. If not, you can be ghetto like me, take a Ziplock bag, and cut a small hole in the corner. I got the idea from @alyssa_george who is by far, the best baker/graphic designer out there. Shove some Nutella in the Ziplock bag, and squeeze it towards that corner. Before you decorate your cake, make sure you test out how much Nutella comes out of the hole you snipped. Don’t stress too much about how your design will look – just let the Nutella flow!